Plaque with Head of a Woman

This piece, displaying a bust of a young woman, features the reddish-pink background typical of Centuripe pottery, as well as a sensitive handling of the woman’s features. Such works probably reflect the wall- and panel-painting tradition that was strongly developed in ancient Greece. Almost no examples of these murals and panels survive; moreover, this example of pottery painted with a wider array of colors and shading is also very fragile and probably only survived because of the protection of a grave. It was no doubt intended as a memorial.